The Effectiveness and Value of the Mandarin Language Assistant Programme in Auckland – A Case Study

Abstract

The Mandarin Language Assistant (MLA) Programme is part of the Volunteer Chinese Teacher Programme launched by the Office of Chinese Language Council International (Hanban), initiated as a result of the Free Trade Agreement signed between China and New Zealand in 2008. The agreement allows for up to 150 teachers a year to come from China to work as MLAs to help teach Mandarin in New Zealand. The number of MLAs has increased considerably since the establishment of the programme. As Hanban has invested a lot into the development of the programme, and the number of local Chinese teachers is growing, it is useful to investigate the value of the MLA programme. However, very few studies have focused on the MLA programme so far. The aim of this case study is to investigate, from the perspective of school principals and class teachers responsible for organizing Chinese language programmes in schools, the perceived effectiveness of the MLA programme. This study focuses on five schools in Auckland, New Zealand (NZ), who have engaged an MLA for the 2014 academic year. Through face-to-face semi-structured interviews with school principals and teachers who often work with the MLAs, the researcher gained insight into the perceived effectiveness of the MLA programme alongside perspectives on the teaching of Chinese in NZ schools. All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed for data analysis. Data were analyzed qualitatively. The study concludes that overall the MLA programme plays a positive role in promoting the development of Chinese language teaching and Chinese culture in local schools. Nevertheless, some problems in its current implementation emerge, such as time management, the gap between Hanban training and the actual planning and teaching involved, the schools’ lack of understanding of the MLA’s role and the schools’ reliance on the MLAs to develop their Chinese programme. Recommendations to improve the MLA programme are raised in the conclusion. This study is the first to investigate the MLA programme from the perspective of school principals and teachers. It has aimed to research the effectiveness and value of the MLA programme in five schools in Auckland. It portrays the effectiveness and limitations of the MLA programme and provides a point of reference for issues to be considered in the implementation of MLA programmes in other areas. Also, this study sheds some light on the Volunteer Chinese Teacher Programme in other countries and the recommendations will be useful for Hanban in the future development of the global Volunteer Chinese Teacher Programme.